Sweat, Joy, and Pain

COVID-19 “The Rona Era”

First of all, I thought today was Father’s Day and I freaked. With the current state of the world, especially the events of this week I completely forgot. Then I found out that Father’s day is next Sunday, whew.

With that off of my conscious, I planned a long run for Sunday. This morning feels like Spring. 58 degrees out, sunny, and cool. Perfect for running. I wanted to run in the city because it has been a while. Plus I wanted to see what restaurants are doing out door dining services. I can tell by the tables that would be outside the restaurants because I don’t think any of them would be open at 6 a.m.

On my run this morning, I saw many people walking with their Starbucks coffee in their hand. The couple of Starbucks that I passed had a “ We’re open “ signs hanging about their front doors.

Starbucks is problematic. The baristas and other employees wanted to wear t-shirts or mask that support Black Lives Matter and the company said no. The company’s statement was that there are agitators who misconstrue the fundamental principles of BLM. Once that information hit social media and had backlash, Starbucks, two days later reversed their decision.

Let us not forgot that in April of 2018, two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia because a staff person called the police on them. After that hit social media, Starbucks planned to close their stores for a day and have an all day diversity workshop.

I’m not sure if there was a follow up, but I hope it was more than one day.

I digress, people had starbucks. As I ran I wanted to feel out my left knee. It still feels achy and hot on the inside when I run. The last two days I’ve been walking, trying to give it time to rest and heal. That is another aside.

While running, two things hit a nerve. The sign that said “Stop killing people” and below were three windows filled with the names of the black men and women who had been murdered. I had to stare for a while.

Then across the street was a huge Pride flag with all the rainbow colors and balloons. Besides father’s day I forgot that this is the start of pride month. As I ran I thought about the intersectionality of oppression. When we think of women, we think of white. When when think of men, we think white. When we think of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, we think of white.

I was running and thinking about the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality during this time. Lots of heavy thoughts on a a Sunday morning.

The sky was blue, the sun was out, my knee was not hurting so bad, and I kept running. After three miles I did start to feel the tightness in my knee. Around the three mile marker I ran into the Public Gardens and the Boston Commons. This was the joy of the morning. The purple flowers were up and the ducklings represented Pride Month.

Leaving the Commons I ran into Downtown Crossing, it was quiet, of course. Running down Washington Street, the Paramount Theater had some amazing words on its marquee. It was joyful to see the words they bad but painful to see the words they had.

The run continued. When I got back to my car, the ending point. I ran 5.07 miles. I could have gone on for longer but the knee was not having it.

Long run, long prayers, beauty, pain, and sweat while running on a Sunday